To escape the dangers of wartime London, Millie has been sent away to Wickford Hall, but what lurks there is far more sinister than anything war might bring.
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THERE'S SOMETHING WICKED STALKING WICKFORD HALL...
As war rages on, Mildred Cunningham...
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All of Wickford Hall awoke as Millie's screams echoed through the halls. The forbidden lights came on, and everyone rushed to see what was the cause of the disturbance. Students poured from their rooms, teachers descended from their quarters in the attic, and nuns climbed up from their basement dwellings until all had discovered the gruesome scene.
A blood-drenched Millie clinging to the lifeless body of her only friend, as she screamed and screamed and screamed.
A smear of Petra's blood traced their descent down the stairs. Now it pooled around them in a spreading, scarlet halo. Whispers began to rise in the crowd, but Millie didn't bother to listen. She was trapped in her own personal hell.
Everything had gone so wrong.
She had feared Petra would abandon her, but not like this.
"They killed her!" Millie cried, the tears streaming down her face, clearing lines through her friend's blood that stained her skin. "They killed her! She's dead! SHE'S DEAD!"
No one did anything. They all just stood there, staring at the horrible scene as if they had all become trapped in a trance.
"Why won't you do something?" Millie screamed at them. "Someone killed her!"
The Mother Superior appeared, bundled up in a housecoat with her grey-streaked hair twisted into a braid that hung down her back. She broke through the crowd, unafraid.
"Don't just stand there, make yourself useful!" she shouted at her subordinates, shoving at them to break them from their stupor. She turned to the upper landing, where the teachers were standing with the students. "Get the girls back in their rooms! Now!"
Everyone snapped out of their daze and set to work. The teachers ushered the students back to their rooms, while the nuns flitted about below, turning on lights and gathering supplies.
"You!" the Mother said, pointing at a reedy young girl who was just coming up the stairs from the basement. "Get some of the staff. Someone strong!"
The reedy girl glimpsed the blood-stained hall and gladly disappeared back down the stairs.
The Mother turned to the others. "And someone get Mildred away from that mess!"
Two nuns, still in nightdresses, descended on Millie. They attempted to pry her hands off Petra's corpse, but Millie refused to let go.
"No! You can't take her away from me!"
A few more nuns stepped in, and it took all of them to overpower Millie, and not without some struggle. They had to pull her fingers back one by one until finally Petra was freed from her grip. The girl's body fell back into the growing pool of blood with a sickening splatter. With nowhere else to go, Millie curled upon herself and began to shake and weep.
